Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark Trailer: Rolling Out

The only good thing to come out of Michael Bay’s involvement in the Transformers universe has been the pair of Transformers games from Activision and High Moon Studios. Transformers: War for Cybertron and its sequel, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, were fun, balanced and visually excellent titles, and gave players a chance to transform and roll out with some of the most beloved alien robots from the 1980s. Edge of Reality is picking up where High Moon left off to bring us the third game in the Transformers saga, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. Today, they released a gameplay trailer that showcases several heroic Autobots and nefarious Decepticons.

While the trailer doesn’t show us much actual in-game, over-the-shoulder action, it does give us a general look at the world that Edge of Reality has created, and the characters that will do battle within it. The developer may be new, but the gameplay footage shows a similar graphical experience to the previous two games. Logically, character designs from AfC and FoC have been re-used for the third title, but the game’s visual presentation and level of polish also looks identical to its predecessors.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will provide players with two campaigns; one from the Autobots’ perspective, and one from the Decepticons’. The new trailer gives us a look at a few characters from each faction. Autobots include series regulars Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, as well as Drift, a newcomer to the series, first seen in the IDW Transformers comic series. On the Decepticon side, we see the ever-popular Soundwave as well as Vortex, a Transformer who becomes a helicopter. Vortex is later seen becoming the left arm of Bruticus.

Switching from the successful High Moon Studios to the virtually unknown Edge of Reality seems like a risky move for a series that has gone from “good” to “very good” in two efforts, but the video indicates that EoR isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, here. Sticking to what has worked before while offering incremental improvements and innovations seems like the best tactic. We'll find out if Activision and Edge of Reality agree when the game launches on June 24 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Windows and 3DS.